I LOVE old, old worn books. You are transported into another era when you open one.

I bought a mannequin leg to hide under the bed for a ‘burglar bat’…

Just kidding. ;) but that would be all kinds of epic.

I’ve always wanted one of these…

I imagine myself sewing all my clothing and being a total fashionista.

An old rowing machine?! That was our guess…

LOVE old doors.

Little known fact about me: When I was a child I used to have an obsession with COWS. Yes, cows. I had a huge collection of cow paraphernalia. I’m sure it was no surprise to OSGMOM when I became a vegan…! I have always been a huge lover of all kinds of animals.

I used to have this cash register!!!!!

GOSH I loved it- especially the plastic coins inside!

I debated buying it for our future children…but I was distracted by this…

I’m pretty sure I had this too (or something like it). Maybe OSGMOM can verify? :)

I love snowshoeing!

She be chillin’.

Eric and I saw this white & very ‘rough’ china cabinet that would have been PERFECT to refinish and fix-up for our kitchen dining area, but it wouldn’t fit in our car. =( It was marked down to just $50! We were so sad because we wanted it so badly and we were excited about having a piece of furniture to work on and bring back to life. It was gorgeous! I guess it wasn’t meant to be though.

Afterwards, we drove by our old university!

Sorry the shots are so poor, I was in the passenger side of the moving car and had my macro lens on!

The thing I loved best about U of G is the beautiful campus, trees, and buildings.

Then we drove downtown to go out for lunch.

We tried out a vegetarian restaurant in Guelph called The Cornerstone. It was here the entire 5 years we lived in Guelph and we never once went to it! We both thought it was a coffee shop from the outside so we never bothered to go inside (we aren’t coffee drinkers).

The inside decor was pretty cool. High industrial ceilings with an open kitchen and lots of bar tables and stools. The downside to this place was no air conditioning. With the open-kitchen, it must have been over 100 degrees in there today. We were very uncomfortable and sweating at our table.

We guzzled this to stay cool…

Poor Eric was so hot he said ‘I’m sticking to my chair’.

We got the Garlic costini along with sun-dried tomato, hummus, and artichoke spreads for an appetizer. It took about 45 minutes for our appetizers to arrive. It was already 2:30pm at this point and we were starving.

It was delicious and we ate 90% of it.

For my main, I had a spinach, hummus, carrot, cuke, and roasted red pepper aioli whole wheat wrap. By the time our main courses arrived we had been waiting for 1 hour 20 minutes. It was clearly an issue of understaffing as all the servers seemed very flustered and rushed.

The wrap was pretty good (but I think anything would taste good after 1 hour 20 mins).

Eric got the veggie pizza and he enjoyed it too.

All in all The Cornerstone had good tasting food in a nicely presented manner. They also had several vegan options on the menu clearly indicated with a ‘v’ (loved that!). On the downside, we probably would not go back due to the long wait time and the uncomfortable & hot atmosphere.

Well, it is almost time to eat again. We are going to do a huge BBQ tonight! I am even BBQing a special dessert that I can’t wait to show you. I hope it turns out.

I love that picture of the necklaces with different shades of pink. It reminds me when I passed by an antique shop in Seattle. It was my first and only time browsing through an antique shop. Since I was visiting Seattle I didn’t buy any big items only knicks knacks :)

All those tea cups!!! I would not have been able to contain myself, lol. I absolutely adore all antique shops (or fairs, for that matter although I have never been to one). My weakness is old books or magazines. I always search for any Gone With The Winds. Great book if you haven’t read it :-D

What a fun day! Antique shopping looks like it would be so much fun. I can see how you could just spend hours looking at all of the unique things without even buying any of it.
I hate long waits at restaurants but at leas the food was good. Hopefully next time will be a bit more timely.

I’m glad nobody hounded you about snapping photos of their antiques……I was in Healdsburg, CA last week antiquing and one of the dealers told me in a not so polite manner that I should really ask before taking photos of the antiques and when I asked her reasoning she said “some dealers don’t like it when photos are taken” Not sure if she thought I was going to replicate an antique or what! Crazy!

Ahh I used to be obsessed with cows when I was little too!!! I had cow t-shirts, and at least 20 stuffed animal cows! Even cow jewelry, it was madness. When I got a little older I switched over to panda bears…something about black and white animals I guess :)

Oh how much fun! I used to collect those Archies at flea markets back when I was a kid…I had a whole bookshelf of them! I bought one at the checkout of the supermarket the other day just to take me back…they don’t seem to be as cute/funny these days :/

Those antiques are gorgeous! I love looking at furniture and decor, and vintage styles are just so classic even when used. I would love one of those mannequins to make dresses and clothing — if only I could sew! Still, very fashionista. : )

These pictures are all so amazing! This looks like a fantastic market….wish I had one nearby to check out. We have a few antique shops in the area, and it’s so fun to browse. You can find so many unique things!

Also, in regards to your obsession with cows when younger, I was obsessed with PIGS! I still have a few of little pig knick knacks in the house, but I had quite the collection going when I was younger. :)

I love those teacups! So cute, they remind me of Russian cups.
Sucks about the restaurant service! I was once at a place that’s similar, getting a sandwich… and it took so long! Ah well. At least your guys’ bellies were filled. :) Most bad situations have something positive.

i absolutely love going to any kind of market – I’ve already dragged my parents to two different farmer’s markets this summer – but as for antique ones, you haven’t seen it all until you go to the St. Dominic’s Fair in Gdansk, Poland (or ‘Jarmark Swietojanski’ in Polish). It’s the biggest ‘goods’ market in Europe, selling both old and new stuff. I’ve been there twice before and I always try to go whenever I’m in Poland, as they have some really neat, unique collectibles there from coins and stamps, to decades-old military guns. It never fails to release the inner kid in me when I start getting excited over seeing helmets and medals from both World Wars! ;D
–>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Dominic%27s_Fair

But I’m (pleasantly) surprised to hear that you went to UofGuelph for your undergrad! Although I’m starting my 2nd year in uni this year, I just transferred over there and both the campus and downtown are especially beautiful!

If you don’t mind me asking, what did you and Eric think of the university? And do you know of any good places to run outside near/on campus (and have you ever done so)? I’m hoping to get a sweat in after class some days ;)

When I lived in Guelph I ran all along the speed river. There is paved as well as dirt trails through trees from one end of Guelph to the other (don’t run at night). Around the university there is the Arboretum which has endless trails with beautiful scenery! Great place to be active. Wish I lived there for more than just one summer.

LOVE the Aberfoyle flea market- I got my mom the most beautiful silver cuff bracelet for just $5 there a while back. So much fun to just wander around and get lost in the antiquity of it all! I also love love love the Cornerstone- though I agree that the service is often slow, especially on the weekend. They have fantastic specials sometimes, though- the other day I had a tempeh burrito and it was phenomenal. Looks like a great day to me :)

I love antiqueing for the nostalgia of it. I had that Easy Bake Oven too. I remember making chocolate brownies in it too. Eeek, don’t know if I could’ve tolerated the heat of the restaurant, I know the hubby wouldn’t have for sure, although the food and menu looked excellent. What an absolute fun day trip!

The antique market looks like so much fun! I had to comment because I most definitely had that fisher price cash register as well :) And I remember spending one summer reading every Archie comic I could get my hands on! Thanks for bringing back some good memories.

Love the pictures! It seems like that market has so many things! An antique market is something I have never been to, but clearly I need to go! The University of Guelph has a beautiful campus! I worked there for one summer and lived down the street from Cornerstone, on the speed river. I loved it! I walked past that restaurant ALL the time, and never went in. Apparently they had good scones and had steamwhistle on tap (a super plus). Have you ever been to Stone Store natural foods? I used to love looking around there. I also shopped all the time at Market Fresh Meat & Produce which had AMAZING bread!

The Doll house looks very familiar and I’m almost certain that you and your sister had one that was very similar. The Cow Collection — oh yes, I remember that phase too :) I laughed at the photo of the Bad Hair Day Barbies — they look just like the Barbies I have put away upstairs that you played with along with the many Trolls, stuffed animals and crafting items. Glad you had fun today.

Oh man, someone would have had to drag me away from those tea cups and dishes!!! I have a really strange obsession with cute dishes… It’s really dangerous for me to go to Anthropologie for that very reason. :) I love this post! The photos are all so beautiful.

What a cool antique market! I love antiques because they just have this mature energy, history, and nostalgia attached to them. It makes me wonder what kind of people these items belonged to and what things these items witnessed. I love all of your photography too! Absolutely stunning photos!

That looks like an amazing antique market! I had no idea we had something like that in this area. I used to go antiquing last summer with my friend and I ended up starting a collection of china tea cups + saucers. They’re just so cute!

I’ve been to visit my friends at U of Guelph a few times and I agree it’s a gorgeous campus. Nothing compared to Western though. ;)

I’ll step out of my lurking for a second to say: those thin China tea cups make *gorgeous* tealight holders! A quirky restaurant here started doing that about a year ago and now a few places do it too, it looks soo pretty! The China has to be thin enough so you’ll see the flame in the dark, and it looks even better with mismatched cups and saucers. :)

What fun weekend pic’s! Just wanted to tell you that I look forward to checking your site each day for inspiration and a pick me up :) I am battling demons of emotional/stress eating & trying to get back to a healthy place and this site really motivates me. Keep up the good work!

Aaahh! Angela, I’ve been a reader for a while but have never commented, but today I had to – Guelph is my hometown! My parents’ house is literally a 5 minute walk from downtown, and about 10 minutes from the university. You’re right, it is beautiful and when I’m away at school, I miss it (I go to Queen’s…bit more beautiful than U of G – just sayin’ ;]). Thanks for reppin’ my hometown to the blogworld!

I did my undergrad at UoG too so those pictures brought back sooo many memories! I think I only ate the the Cornerstone once and had the same experience (time-wise). It’s too bad that hasn’t changed! I think my favourite restaurants in Guelph were Carden St. Cafe and the Boathouse (ooh, and this other place whose name escapes me now). I wonder if anything’s changed much since I’ve been there!